Summary:
In this April, 1862, letter, Confederate Assistant Adjutant General W. H. Taylor
suggests that General Henry Heth move his troops to Staunton to reinforce
operations in the Shenandoah Valley.
Brig. Gen. HENRY HETH,
Cmdg., &c.,
Lewisburg, Va.:
Richmond, Va.,
April 27, 1862.
GEN.:
From the reports which have reached him Gen. Lee is led to believe that nearly all of the Federal Army has retired from your front, and indeed from Western Virginia. He directs me to request you to make an early report of the state of affairs in your department, giving, as nearly as you can, the force and position of the enemy opposed to you, your own strength, and your views as to whether it would not be expedient and more desirable to move a part or the whole of your army toward Staunton, for the purpose of re-enforcing the army operating in the valley. Of course it would not do to leave the Virginia Central and Virginia and Tennessee Railroads entirely unprotected, but if the enemy is as weak and quiet in the Kanawha as he is represented, a sufficient guard could be detailed from your command to protect the roads, and still leave a force which would materially strengthen the Army of the Valley, and with other re-enforcements enable it perhaps to act on the offensive. On the 16th instant instructions were sent to Col. W. E. Peters, Forty-fifth Virginia Regiment, to collect his regiment and repair to Knoxville for duty under Gen. Kirby Smith. This was done under the impression that the Forty-fifth Regt. constituted a part of the Floyd Brigade, all of which it was understood had been furloughed. By a letter received from Col. Peters this morning it is ascertained that he is on duty with his regiment under your command, and he has been instructed to continue in the position assigned him by you until further orders.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
W. H. TAYLOR,
Assistant Adjutant-Gen.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 12, Serial No. 18, Pages 869-870, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
